As I had mentioned in previous #ssg posts, leaving Netherlands also meant leaving a trusted network of sellers that I would pick up some of my nice shiny silver from. So, in the last month, I made sure to pick up some stuff that I was interested in... because who knows how long it would be before I would have either the time or ability to go shopping again. Or more to point, who I would go shopping from!

Since starting collecting coins and precious metals (you #ssg folk are a bad influence...), I've been really more interested in the historical coins and the pretty designs and artwork on silver. I know that there are many who are more interested in stacking silver for the pure store of value aspect, but I'm really there for the other side of things first!

... and one particular collection/mint that I always am keen to collect more of are the pieces from Silver Shield. There is a strong ideological bent to many of their coins, and it isn't something that I always agree with, but I do love their designs! And so, when I see pieces that are selling with themes that I can get on board with... well, I can't help myself!

So, before I left... I saw a seller on Marktplaats (the Dutch second-hand website) selling about 10 or so Silver Shield pieces of all sorts of designs. Sadly, I wasn't able to snap them all up... but I did pick out a few that were interesting to me, and the seller and I were able to negotiate a deal that had me pick out three of them for an agreeable price. Actually, this was one of the nicer negotiations on Marktplaats that I've had... one that didn't start out with the seller cranking out about their auction accepting bids lower than their asking price (hint, you can set that in the auction settings if you don't want that to happen). Normally, I don't bid ultra-low, that would be really annoying... but for an auction that has no lower limit I'm not going to start at the asking price!

What I really liked about these pieces were the fact that they came in a case and two of them even had certificates with them as well!

The "Consumerism" piece has a lovely if somewhat garish design that makes the comment on our current Western capitalist system of society. For most of my life, I've not really managed to get too hooked into the hamster cycle... that comes mostly from working as a musician and as a freelancer... you are highly aware of debt and the fluctuations of income, and so there is a huge awareness of avoiding debt traps. It makes for a bit of a frugal lifestyle, but one that has everything that we need and very little in the way of excess (well... some excess, but hopefully not too much!). Everything that we purchase would be justified and budgeted, not bought with credit... and of course, I can fully understand that not every person will be in a position to do that... but if you are, it is a good idea to stay as debt free as possible!

That has made us also think about what we like to do with our lives.. do we want to work a job to escape the grind? Or did we want to work in a way that wasn't really work but more a lifestyle/choice? Again, I recognise that not everyone has this luxury to make that choice... but I think that there are more than a few people that have come to realise in the last couple of years that they might not be spending the prime of their lives in the way that would ideally like to.

I have always enjoyed this Freedom Girl design... I have a Copper piece with the same design. However, nothing is better than actually picking up a silver version of the design, it really does look quite a bit nicer without the copper overtone. Plus, to make things even sweeter, it is a 2 ounce piece where the extra volume is made into extra face area... which makes for a much much better space to allow the design to shine (as opposed to a super thick cylinder instead...).

I love it... although, I guess there might be a fight at some point in the future as to who gets the copper or the silver version! Might have to find one more of each! This is my favourite design in the Silver Shield collection... although, the Quadrivium is a very very close second!

Finally, this pretty garish design is the "Enemy Unknown" piece from Silver Shield. I was a bit up in the air as to whether or not I actually wanted this one... but the design is still pretty cool, if a little bit morbid. And I figure... if you are splashing out, you may as well pick up one more! Plus, none of the other pieces on offer really appealed that much to me... either they weren't that nice a design (too plain...) or had ideological concepts that I didn't really agree too much with. So, this was a nice compromise!

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Handy Crypto Tools

Ledger Nano S/X: Keep your crypto safe and offline with the leading hardware wallet provider. Not your keys, not your crypto!
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